2012

Robert is from Las Vegas, Nevada. Majoring in Middle East Studies and Arabic, Robert prepared himself for the Gilman scholarship through an internship with the Kennedy Center where he helped work on development in the rural areas of Jordan. His international experience is also bolstered by his participation in the BYU Arabic study abroad program. A winner of a 2012 Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) to study Arabic in Tangier, Morrocco, Robert's future plans are focused in the area of diplomacy.

Winner of a 2012 Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) to Morocco for Arabic language study, Kelly is a MESA major--Middle Eastern Studies and Arabic--at BYU. Hailing from Cody, Wyoming Kelly says her best preparatory experience for the CLS was a a study abroad to Cairo, Egypt during the summer of 2010. While in Egypt, Kelly was able to vastly improve her Arabic and grew to love the people and culture, noting that Arab children were often her most willing conversation partners.

From Bothell, Washington, James is double majoring in Economics and Arabic. A veteran of several internships and programs James has completed the following: an international development internship in Jordan where he taught English and researched development; a work stint with AidData on BYU campus; an internship with Development Gateway in Washington, DC, where he worked with geocoding and research on international development; an internship with Vittana through the Ballard Center; as well an Arabic study abroad program in Jordan.

From Moscow, Idaho, Elizabeth is a Linguistics major with minors in Mathematics and Russian. A winner of a 2012 Critical Language Scholarship (CLS), Elizabeth will be studying Russian in Vladimir, Russia. Although not directly related to her CLS study, Elizabeth has been working on various field linguistics projects with Dr. Janis Nuckolls relating to the Ecuadorean indigenous language Quichua; this experience has led to publication opportunities as well as the opportunity to sink her teeth into real linguistic research.